It’s been a busy few months since I last wrote here, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to report back on what’s been happening.

Somerset County Council made the decision to reverse a part of the funding cut to the Youth Service, and put off any decision on cuts to our Young Carers. This topped off what was a really bad patch for the tories at Somerset. First their decision to close libraries across the county was ruled illegal, then they were threatened again with legal action should they decide to leave our young people high and dry. What really gets me about all of this, is that the tories campaign every single time on anti-social behaviour, and how young people are out of control and yet when in power, they do the absolutely wrong thing in tackling any of these problems. Frome Youth Centre on Vallis Way is a really great asset in helping stop the problems of anti-social behaviour – the fact that the suits in Taunton are considering cutting it is a scandal.

Following the meeting I arranged with the County Council, the Police and Hayesdown First School, I’m told that a number of the issues experienced with traffic in the morning and afternoon have subsided slightly. As a result of the meeting the rear gate was unlocked allowing parents to use Winscombe Court and letters were sent by First Bus and the Police force warning residents and drivers of the problem. In the next few weeks I’ll be hitting the pavements and asking residents of roads surrounding Hayesdown if things actually have gotten any better, and what more we can do to help solve the problem.

Residents who I spoke to regarding the problem with dog litter may well have noticed that there are now a few more dog litter bins perched around the place. This is one way in which we can help clean up our streets, but is by no means the end of the struggle against irresonsible dog owners. Mendip District Council still only employ one dog warden and as long as this situation continues, I don’t see many fines being given. It is absolutely ridiculous for streetlights to be littered with fine notices, when the council knows fully that fines are unlikely to be handed down. This is a situation I’m committed to tackling.

The final thing I have on the cards coming up is a meeting with a local charity who work with the elderly to help combat loneliness and isolation. I’m very happy that Mendip District Council counts rural isolation as one of its key priorities and so I’m more than happy to be meeting a group who can tell us what more we can be doing as an authority to help local people.

If there’s anything I’ve missed or if I can help at all, give me a shout on 07564 737912.

Cllr Sam Phripp

Today I’ve circulated a street letter in the immediate area around the Planning Application Mendip have received for land off Beechwood Avenue. Those aware of the history of this case will know that previously an application for fourteen houses was submitted – this time it’s for ten.

Upon my request, this application was referred to Mendip District Council’s Planning Board and will go before the board on March 14th. Anybody wishing to discuss this application is more than welcome to call me on 07564 737912 – or to email me at cllr.phripp@mendip.gov.uk.

It would be great to see as many residents at the Planning Board meeting putting their views across. Speakers are sadly limited to three minutes, however it’s very important to me that the voice of local residents is heard at the meeting. To ask to speak at the meeting please call Mendip on 01749 648999.

Cllr Sam Phripp

A whole lot has been in the newspapers this week about the planned cuts to Somerset’s Young Carers Service. This one is a little bit close to home for me, because after my Dad was hospitalised with kidney failure when I was younger, I was one of the young people who needed this service so much.

When I attended these fortnightly support groups, I knew that I was surrounded by young people going through the same thing I was, and I knew that I was supported by adults who were trained to deal with the very situations we were in. I was lucky, in that my Dad’s health stabilised, and we were all able to get ourselves back on our feet. So many of Somerset’s young carers aren’t as lucky as I was.

So often, things at Somerset County Council are defined by what colour rosette you wear. I myself very often find myself falling into the traps of talking about ‘Somerset’s tories’, but for me this is about far more than that. The cut of £70,000 is 50% of the entire budget given to support young carers across our county. To put it into context – it’s the same amount the County Council recently spent fighting a court case, or the amount it costs to employ Somerset’s ‘change mananger’ for 88 days.

Of course, there are endless questions about consultation periods and wordings, but what is clear to me is that this is about far more than campaigns and money saving. This is a question of whether our County Council supports the most vulnerable young people in our area.

To call on Cllr John Osman (Children and Young People) not to force through this cut, please email your thoughts to jdosman@somerset.gov.uk

I thought it might be an idea at this time of year to take a little bit of time to take stock of things that are happening and report back to residents and followers on my work since being elected in May last year.

Since May 6th I’ve received more than 3,500 emails of which around 70% were council related. I’ve attended 3 of the 4 Full Council meetings at Mendip, 3 Cabinet meetings, 4 training sessions, sat on 1 Licensing sub-committee given my views on 4 Planning referrals, attended 5 meetings of Frome Town Council, become a governor at Hayesdown First School and attended countless other public meetings on everything from football to Saxonvale. By the end of this week I will have delivered more than 3,000 leaflets across the area and knocked on 150 doors in the past two months.

The thing that I found most surprising about being a councillor is that absolutely everything takes three times as long to happen as anyone would think it should. I’m still sending emails back and forth about more dog litter bins, we had to wait a mammoth 3 months for Somerset County Council to respond regarding the Monmouth Drive footpath and I still haven’t received a reply from an email I sent about something incredibly simple three days after I was elected. I think I could be a councillor for the rest of my life and still find it frustrating.

The main reason that I decided to run for the council to begin with was something that I still believe to be true – big decisions are being taken by people sat in Shepton and County Hall who know very little about our town. Whether it’s the 10% increase in parking charges that will hit us all in February, the plans to close our youth centre and sack its staff or the £800 we still pay every single day to the woman telling Somerset what to cut next – it is clearer now more than ever that there has to be an alternative.

I don’t profess to be in any position to change any of these things on my own, but what I’m committed to is being on the right side when it comes to making difficult decisions. Whether its at a very local level with Frome Town Council, or more widely at Mendip or Somerset I’m committed to working with people of any political colour or no political colour to get the right decisions and results for our town. 8 months in, I feel more grateful than ever that I have the support of local people to try and do my bit in supporting them.

As ever, if there’s anything I can help with, please don’t hesitate to give me a call on 07564 737912 or come and say hello at one of our monthly Market Stall Surgeries, which take place the first Saturday of every month.

Cllr Sam Phripp

One of the most regular complaints that I get from residents is the problems that we all have to deal with – day in and day out – with dogs. I say dogs, I suppose really what I mean is the irresponsible owners who don’t pick up after them. Requesting more dog litter bins was something that I started to do even before being elected, and I’ve had correspondence today saying that we’re a step closer to getting them.

Another way that we can target this problem is with dog litter wardens. People are always shocked when I tell them that Mendip only employs one warden – probably the reason you rarely see people getting fined in Frome! As well as getting more bins installed, I’ll be working hard with residents to lobby Mendip to take another look at the situation with wardens. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that one person stretched across Frome, Shepton Mallet, Wells, Glastonbury, Street and all the places in between isn’t going to work very well. Hopefully it’s something Mendip will budge on.

In the meantime, if you have any particular problems with this less glamorous issue, please don’t hesitate to contact me. The more Mendip get phonecalls complaining about it – the more they’re likely to realise the error of their ways.

Those living around the Monmouth Drive area will have noticed that the footpath linking Monmouth Drive and Selwood School has been growing steadily more overgrown. A resident first complained to me about this three months ago, at which point I passed it on to Somerset – whose job it is to cut it back.

Three months later, and lo and behold Somerset County Council haven’t done anything. I regularly use the footpath if I’m walking into town or to catch a bus, so I know just how bad the situation has been getting.

This morning with a team of friends and local residents we set out and did a little bit of groundwork ourselves clearing the footpath of overhanging brambles and cutting things back for the winter. Thanks to the tip now being closed on a Sunday we’ve had to leave a pretty hefty pile of trimmings to one side – but I’ll be calling Somerset tomorrow to remove it (can you imagine if Somerset County Council got done for fly-tipping?).

Thanks very much to Josh Burr (http://thewoollyliberal.wordpress.com/), my Dad for providing tools and everyone else for your moral support! Good job, well done.

The campaign to save libraries under threat across Somerset and Gloucestershire reached the High Court in Birmingham today. The campaign, spearheaded by a group of people from both counties argues that closing libraries actually breaks laws ensuring that this valuable and important service is provided.

I first got involved with the Save Somerset’s Libraries campaign early this year, when I spent some cold hours asking for signatures in the Westway precinct. What became very clear was that there was huge public support for our libraries – we gathered 1,500 signatures in a matter of a few hours. It seems to me that actually, Ken Maddock and the tories at Somerset played politics with this one. It’s very well known, that if you have to get a bad decision through, put a worse version of it in first and it’ll make the real one seem more reasonable. Now, I’m not saying that they did that in this case, but the initial plans to put around 20 under threat and the later ones only to close 6 does make me uncomfortable.

The staff we have at Frome Library are absolutely second to none. They reach out into the community, they provide activities to bring young people in and help them use the service, and they’re being rewarded by Somerset this winter by a cut in hours of 20%. The crusade by Somerset County Council to cut millions from it’s budget is increasingly short-sighted.

Whilst at the next County Council elections I wouldn’t be surprised if Ken Maddock tries to buy votes by keeping tax at the same rate (or, if he’s really been busy with his axe, a tax cut) it seems clear that a low rate of tax is all well and good but not when the libraries are closing, the tip is shut two days a week and you have to take it into your own hands to fix the roads.

Let us not be mistaken – Somerset may well be saving short-term money but they aren’t saving libraries or recycling facilities, or the frontline services we all rely upon. I for one hope that the court case is a success and Ken is forced to review his dangerous, blinkered and possibly illegal decision.

This morning I made some headway with a number of local problems.

One of the most regular complaints I’ve been receiving has been about the state of the rail bridges in Berkley Down. The worst one as far as I can see is the bridge across Rodden Road, which has been beset by flocks of pigeons for as long as I can remember.

Today I called Network Rail, whose responsibility the bridges are and reported both the problems with birds, and the graffiti, which has been ongoing. They seemed open-minded about netting for the bridges to reduce the bird problem and said that the graffiti would be looked into and sorted out. As with all of these things, part of me does tend to take it with a pinch of salt, though if they’re going to solve it out once and for all it can’t be a bad thing.

I also reported the graffiti adorning the road bridge onto Frome Bypass from Styles Hill. Trying to report this not only meant that I was stuck on hold with Somerset County Council for ages, but was also that I was informed that Somerset only deal with ‘offensive’ graffiti. Now, call me simple-minded, but as far as I’m concerned all graffiti is offensive unless it’s in a designated area. Either way, Mendip have now registered it, and according to the website - aim to sort it within a week.

We’ll see whether or not they do, though in the mean time don’t hesitiate to call me or email through the website should you have any more issues. There’s nothing I like more than being a wasp in the ear of Local Authorities.

Copy from the Somerset Standard – Thursday September 1st, 2011.

A rundown bridge in the Ellworthy Park estate, near Asda could be given a long overdue makeover, if a Frome district councillor gets his way.

Councillor Sam Phripp (Lib Dem, Berkley Down), the youngest ever councillor on Mendip District Council, has made it his mission to get the bridge cleaned up once and for all after receiving several complaints from residents.

He said: “The bridge is covered in graffiti and is badly in need of some repairs.

“Myself and other councillors, including Adrian Dobinson and Alvin Horsfall have been contacted by residents wanting something done and we will work together to get it sorted.

“I know that young people go there of an evening and hang out, and I understand that but something needs to be done as it is a real eyesore for residents.”

Mr Phripp said he contacted the developer, Bellway Homes, and MDC over the ownership and responsibility but did not have much luck.

He said: “I am still no clearer as to who owns the bridge so I am planning to organise a day of action to clean it up and I hope residents will come along and join me.”

He also said he was waiting to hear from Stuart Brown, the chief executive of the district council, about donating some materials for the clean-up.

A spokesman for Bellway Homes said: “I can in fact confirm that we own the bridge.

“We are in the process of getting the bridge up to standard for its adoption by the local authority.

“We will ensure that the bridge is fit for adoption and we will be doing some work on it in the near future.”

Any residents who would like to speak to Mr Phripp about the bridge, help with the clean-up or other issues in Berkley Down ward should contact him on 07564 737912.

by Claire Wilson

Cllr Adam Boyden and I had a brilliant time today meeting with the Matron at Frome Community Hospital, Janet Saunders, to discuss the exact services the hospital provides the people of Frome, the challenges it faces and what the new health park will mean for the hospital once the site at Park Road closes.

The main thing that came across during our meeting was actually the breadth of services that the hospital provides. Whilst there is of course more that can be done (a 24 hours Minor Injuries provision is something that seems to come up repeatedly, though I understand the hospital has to balance the cost versus how much the service is actually used…) Frome seems to punch a long way above it’s weight in terms of the services it provides. From a state-of-the-art X-Ray, to a Plaster Clinic and from group therapy sessions for those with Dementia to one of the best Dialysis Units in the South West, it seems clear to me that whilst we all hope we never have to go there, we’d be pretty well looked after if we did.

Janet seemed positive about the prospect of Frome Medical Practice moving their Health Centre just a few feet away with the planned ‘Health Park’. Whilst people on the other side of town are rightfully concerned about how well dispersed provision is across town, what we’ll have on the Cheese Show Field will be a brilliant facility for our town one way or another.

The Matron finished the visit with a quick look around the various parts of the hospital including the small gardens taken care of by nurses and patients, the X-Ray I mentioned before (which, for someone who luckily has never seen such a machine before was really cool) and a ‘therapy kitchen’ used to assess whether patients can take good care of themselves in their own homes.

Thanks to Janet Saunders for being so helpful, and for Cllr Adam Boyden (Frome College – www.adamboyden.mycouncillor.org.uk) for organising the visit.

The design for the new Health Park at the Cheeseshow Field